Travel Marketing News – Spring Edition

Have you read the news lately?This year we are focusing on bringing you the best digital marketing tools to drive more direct bookings. That also means we need to stay in the know of what is trending in the tourism-marketing world.

Here’s what’s been going onTo keep you up to speed on what’s happening now, and on top of any changes coming, we have compiled 5 of the top trends in the travel industry so far this year.

Google has made some travel specific updates. Earlier this year Google announced some big changes to its methodology as well as announcing a few new offerings in the travel world. They have rolled out some major changes like Destinations, ad blocking, removing side ads, Local Pack, and analytics upgrades. You need to know how it will affect your travel business. Our takeaway: stay up to date with SEO, reviews, and NAP location data, and they will take note. Read more on Destinations, Local Pack and changes to Analytics.

Experience it. This year is going to be a huge disruption for OTA’s. More and more businesses are moving away from the reliance on OTA’s. And travelers aren’t using them either. They want an experience – experiential travel is the trending term. Millennial travelers, family adventurers and Travelers are looking for an alternative to the traditional way of traveling. Share your unique experience and make your business stand out as authentic. Check out the Top 2016 Travel Trends.

Mobile is taking over. Mobile is the fastest growing travel trend, and has been for the past couple of years. We’ve seen a uptick of around 49% for lodging and 47% for activities in mobile search. The search and planning phase on mobile is where it’s at. And a good place to start is by making sure your website is mobile-friendly, its easy to book directly on your site, and your Local-Mobile search data is up to date. See how mobile is affecting travel.

Build a loyal following. Reviews aren’t going anywhere; in fact they are being shown in more places than ever. Around 75-90% of travelers read them. Take advantage of the audience you have to grow your loyal audience and share their experience. It helps you grow your loyal followers and word of mouth marketing with little to no investment. The best kind of ROI! Read more here.

Content is the new SEO. We all know SEO coupled with content is one of the most important pieces to successful web presence. But it’s time to re-think the way you use your words. Focus your efforts on content marketing in places like blogs, personalized posts in social media and review responses, content on your site beyond the about us area, and search descriptions. Not to repeat it, but anything that is focused on mobile search will boost your awareness too. Find SEO tips here.

We hope this helps you plan your strategy to get ahead of your competition this summer. AllTrips can help with each of the above topics and help drive direct bookings with our Digital Marketing Solutions. We are just an email or call away.

As always, we appreciate your partnership,
The AllTrips Team

P.S. if you want to know what blogs we follow, check out our list here.